MAFFEI: Woods boosts TV ratings, but his on-course reactions are often vulgar

-- Officials at the British Open -- golf's next major event --
are anxiously awaiting word from Woods. He has until May 27 to
declare his intent to play in the July-15-18 event. There are two
attractions for Woods -- it's a major tournament, and it's being
played on the Old Course at St. Andrews.

-- Prior to Sunday's final round of the Quail Hollow
Championship, CBS will broadcast "A Passion for Golf, PGA
Professionals and You." The show showcases the stories of several
PGA players and their mentoring of junior players.

-- The Golf Channel has added Terry Gannon to its live
tournament team. He'll share play-by-play duties for the network's
coverage of the PGA and LPGA.

NFL draft review

The NFL's gamble to move its draft to prime time paid a huge
dividend.

Thursday night's first-round coverage from Radio City Music Hall
in New York City on ESPN delivered a 5.3 rating with 7.3-million
viewers -- up 23 percent from last year's first round. Another 1
million fans watched on the NFL Network.

Thursday's numbers beat NBC's "The Office," ABC's "Private
Practice" and more than doubled the average viewership of the
Thunder-Lakers NBA playoff game on TNT.

Friday's draft coverage of rounds 2-3 averaged a 2.6 rating and
2.6 million viewers on ESPN and ESPN2 -- up 10 percent from last
year.

Saturday's day-long coverage on ESPN delivered a 1.8 rating, up
13 percent from last year.

Overall, a record 45.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the
draft on ESPN, ESPN2 or the NFL Network.

Now, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league is looking
into staging the draft in multiple cities next year. Call me naive,
but wouldn't that create a logistical nightmare for the TV
networks, the networks who made the draft the event it has
become?

Grow up, Shaun

Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips learned the hard way Tuesday
that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Phillips was making the rounds of the stations at the Broadcast
Company of the Americas, promoting a charity bowling tournament.
It's a common practice in talk-show radio to book big-name guests,
who then promote a book, movie or charity.

Phillips stopped at 91X and was lobbed softball questions.

He then walked into the booth at XX Sports 1090 and went on the
air with Darren Smith. Smith interviewed Phillips, pumped Phillips'
event, but had the gumption to ask Phillips about a key penalty in
the Chargers' playoff loss to the Jets.

Phillips got a little testy about the playoff question, but
settled down.

Later, on Twitter, he said "I won't ever go on again" and called
Smith a "jerk off." Phillips later said, "I'm not mad at the
interview. I'm mad that the light is on me when it should be on the
kids. Do you feel me?"

Yes, Shaun. I feel you.

I feel you're a fine player who made a mistake in a key game. I
also feel you need to grow up and realize there is a trade-off in
the radio business. If you want to pump your event, you have to
give the interviewer something of substance.